


Home for Good

by remarks



Category: Ookiku Furikabutte | Big Windup!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), M/M, Post-Canon, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 12:08:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29401743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/remarks/pseuds/remarks
Summary: Tajima retires and moves back home. Hanai never left.
Relationships: Hanai Azusa/Tajima Yuuichirou
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 6





	Home for Good

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hawberries](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hawberries/gifts).



> hope you like this little treat, phee! i saw the thing about tajima casually dating and ran with it.

Tajima is home for good, which in theory sounds great. And Hanai had been really excited about it when he heard from Abe. The fact that he had to hear it from Abe and not from Tajima directly didn't really sink in for about a week because sometimes Hanai is a complete idiot.

The local papers all cover it because it's not every day that a pro-ball player retires and moves back to his hometown, and Hanai actually buys the newspapers like he's ever read news anywhere aside from his phone. His mother raises her eyebrows and doesn't say anything, which is a first. He's glad about that, even though he knows her not saying anything means she knows more than she lets on. 

Well. That'll just be a little secret between them, he guesses. Some secret mother-son mutual ignorance society. It's certainly better than his extended relatives always asking him why he's not married now that he's over 30. He has a good job, doesn't he? Being a teacher and a baseball coach is steady work. He's tall and strong, isn't he? Handsome, even, at certain angles. Why doesn't Hanai just find a nice girl and settle down?

Hanai doesn't want to settle, though. Hanai doesn't want nice, and he really doesn't want a girl.

The first time he sees Tajima is at the cafe, grabbing coffee with one of the women who works in the library. They're sitting at a table close to the window as Hanai passes by, laughing together and having what seems to be the greatest time of their lives. Hanai freezes for a moment, his heart seizing up and not allowing his feet to move; of course Tajima would settle in again immediately. Of course he'd be on a date his first week back. That was just Tajima all over, fitting in wherever he went. That was his gift, wasn't it? He deserved all the happiness that followed wherever he went— Tajima had _earned_ it. Hanai doesn't have a place there, not anymore.

Hanai makes up his mind to move on, just as Tajima lifts his head and meets his eyes. Bright dawning recognition lights up Tajima's face and he's pushing back his chair and running out of the cafe before Hanai can even take a single step.

"Hanai!" Tajima calls, running out the front door. He looks the same as he skids to a stop in front of Hanai, grinning and breathless. Up close, the only difference in him is the fact that the corners of his eyes crinkle up a little bit more. "I had no idea you were in town."

"I still live here. I never left," Hanai says. His shoulders slump. "I teach at Nishiura now and took over the team when Momoe-kan left."

"We should have kept in touch more," Tajima says, really laying it all out there. That's the same as always, too.

"I know." Hanai pauses. "I'm sorry," he adds, just as Tajima blurts out an apology, too. They both laugh and something in Hanai's heart shifts and rolls back into place. He feels more comfortable than he has in he doesn't even know how long. Has Tajima always had that effect on him?

Yeah.

"You should come see one of our games," Hanai says. He takes a deep breath. "We'll grab a drink after."

Tajima grins again. The crinkles at the corners of his eyes make him even more handsome, and the slow up-down look he gives Hanai makes him feel like he's sixteen again. "Okay," he says, and reaches out to squeeze Hanai's shoulder before turning to go back inside again. "It's a date."


End file.
